Home

Grassy Shoot Disease in sugarcane

Submitted by kanchannainwal1 on Wed, 19/08/2009 - 10:16
Posted in

Grassy Shoot Disease

Causal organism: Phytoplasma

  • It is a mycoplasamal disease.
  • Primary transmission of disease is through disease infected setts.

Symptoms:

  • Profuse tillering with narrow chlorotic leaves giving a grass like appearance is characteristic symptom of GSD incidence.
  • Very few tillers of GSD infected plants develop into canes, which are thin and produce white shoots from the side buds.
0
Your rating: None
  • Login to post comments
  • 9513 reads

 The grassy shoot disease

Submitted by duttamajumder on Sat, 15/12/2012 - 15:49.

 The grassy shoot disease (GSD) was first recorded by Barber(1919) from Coimbatore. GSD came into prominence when it was observed in Co 419 near Belapur (Maharashtra) in 1949. The affected plant/clump produces excessive, thin, short, lanky, albinoid tillers (grass like ( no. of tillers may reach more than 100 per clump) from the base of the affected plant.

 The disease is characterized by proliferation as well as premature tillering with narrow chlorotic/albinoid leaf blades. The foliage of young tillers shows different degrees of albinism from chlorotic streaks to the total albinoid plant. Generally, diseased plants raised from the infected setts do not produce millable canes and a good number of affected clump usually fail to sprout after harvest, producing gaps in the ratoons. In the affected clumps, one or two tillers may grow and give rise to full grown cane and remain green, providing nourishment to the entire clump. Such apparently healthy canes provide major source of primary inoculum for the next plant crop. In addition to primary transmission through seed cane it is transmitted (secondary transmission) through leafhopper Deltocephalus vulgaris in persistent way. The disease is of phytoplasmal etiology. Tetracycline group of antibiotics (250 ppm) suppress the disease symptoms. The pathogen is eliminated in diseased setts by heat therapy.